This is Love
by NerdyMusician513
Summary: "Why do we fight for the Olympians?" he asked. He tried to explain, he really did, but how could he explain something he himself didn't know? Percy thinks and he realizes why. Chiron had been training heroes ever since he could remember. No matter how long he's done this, nothing can ever take away the pain of outliving every single one of them.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO.**

_And it's in the blood of a hero_

_To know where he goes he may never return yeah_

_This is why we do it this is worth the pain_

_This is why we bow down and get back up again_

_This is where the heart lies, this is from above_

"Why?" Nico asked. Percy looked over at his cousin from his bed. The Ghost King was sitting cross-legged on the floor staring at his older cousin. He dropped by the night before saying that they had to talk about something important but he never got around to actually doing it.

"Why what?" Percy asked, confused at the sudden question.

"Why do we fight for the Olympians?" he asked again. "All they've ever brought us is pain. So why do you do this? Why do you let yourself be used as a pawn in this war?" Percy adjusted himself so he was leaning against his headboard and his cousin was in his line of sight. He stared at Nico's dark eyes and saw nothing but honest curiosity. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, a nervous habit he picked up recently. The question got him thinking. Why _did_ he?

"Nico… I think… I don't…" He tried to explain, he really did, but how could he explain something he himself didn't know? He sighed again and stared at his ceiling hoping that the racked plaster would provide him with answers. "I.. Because it's the right thing to do, Nico." He finally said.

"Is it really? How do we know that this is the right thing to do? Is it enough for you?" Nico asked.

Percy thought about why he did his best in quests. He thought of his mom, the best person in the world. He thought about his friends, Annabeth, Grover, Nico, Thalia. He thought about his kind-of family, Poseidon, Chiron, everybody in camp. He thought about disobeying Chiron's orders most of the time. The reason why he accepted his first quest, the reason why he sneaked out of camp to save it, the reason why he went and saved Annabeth even if he was told not to, the reason why he accepted his most recent quest despite its dangers. It was there all along and he was just too blind to see it, maybe, it just wasn't expressed enough.

He remembered how it felt to lose his mom, how it felt when he finally saw her again. He remembered how scared he was when he saw Thalia's poisoned tree. He remembered how heartbroken he was when Annabeth fell down the cliff. He remembered how it felt when he finally saw her, battered and bruised. He remembered how happy he feels whenever he's with his family, both immediate and extended. He remembered how proud his father was when he retrieved Zeus' lightning bolt, how depressed Mr. D was when his son, Castor, died, how desperate Hermes was – is – to bring Luke back. He remembered all of those and realized that maybe, just maybe, everybody just have to look a little deeper to see it.

"It should be." Percy said. "But it's not, at least for me it's not. There's something else there that helps me, that pushes everyone just a bit more." Nico looked at him, dark eyes betraying nothing but curiosity.

"What is it, Percy?" he asked, eyebrows furrowed. Percy looked at his cousin; a smile that could rival the sun god's lit up his face.

"Love." He said simply.

_Love is this, this is love_

_Love is why we do it love is worth the pain_

_Love is why we fall down, get back up again_

_Love is where the heart lies love is from above_

_Love is this, this is love_

**A/N:** It's short, but I couldn't help but right it. :) Anyway, if you're reading my other story _Junior Year_, I'm sorry I haven't updated. I'll probably update next week. No promises though. :)

The song is This is Love by The Script. I love that band. :) I also love the song. Listen to it.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey guys. :-) I think the last time I posted a chapter/story was more than half a year ago? Yeah. I'm sorry. Anyway, my brain decided to go and make plot bunnies because I kept repeating This is Love in my iPod. I decided to take some of the other parts of the song to make other one-shots. I was thinking of making a whole new story but I think this is better. I'm just going to keep it in complete because the chapters can stand alone.**

**To those who read my other fic, Junior Year, please read the note at the bottom. THANK YOU!**

**Here you go. Chapter 2. :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

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It's in the eyes of the children

As they leave for the very first time

~0~

This is why we do it this is worth the pain

This is why we bow down and get back up again

This is where the heart lies, this is from above

Chiron has been around for a very long time. He had been training heroes ever since he could remember. He'd trained the best of the best and the worst of the worst. He had turned the smallest child, the runt of the litter, into celebrated heroes.

No matter how long he's done this, nothing can ever take away the pain of outliving every single one of them.

Every time a demigod comes, he swears to himself that he will not get attached. He will not treat them as a child. He will not let himself be hurt again.

But as he watched them turn into a full-fledged hero, as he watched them courageously wade into war, as he watched them work hard to protect themselves and the people around them, he somehow forgets what he has promised and love them as his children.

He sometimes asks himself why he would let himself be hurt time and time again. He would sometimes falter and try to quit. He'd actually went through the motions of packing his things so many times, it was practically routine.

He was about to put his spare tweed jacket into his pack when Grover knocked on his door.

"Sir?"

"What is it, Grover?"

"I have the report on Perseus Jackson."

He thought for a moment before he remembered. Percy Jackson was that demigod Grover informed him about on his last IM report. He nodded and gestured for Grover to lead the way to the "conference" room.

"Well, what have you found out?"

"He is definitely a demigod, sir, and a strong one at that. I had a hard time making sure because the first time we'd met, he reeked, sir. Like really badly." Chiron nodded at that. The only reason Grover informed him of this Perseus was because he had the symptoms of a demigod, the ADHD, the dyslexia, the single parent and the weird history. "But, as we stayed there longer, his scent began to change. Monsters came almost daily to the school. Whoever his mom is, she's one smart cookie."

"You say the monsters come regularly?"

"Yes, sir. It probably has something to do with the fact that he's in one area so his scent is all over the place, but the frequency is troubling, sir."

"Very well. I'll go with you and pose as the new Latin teacher."

And that's exactly what he had done. He went to Yancy Academy and suggested that the current Latin teacher take a much needed vacation. He got to know Perseus "Percy" Jackson better as a teacher. The boy somehow managed to endear himself to the centuries old centaur in the span of a few months. He didn't even spend that much time with the boy but somehow he grew fond of the boy.

Inevitably, the monsters attacked and a fury, no less! Chiron knew then and there that this boy was a demigod. And not just any demigod. But a child of the eldest gods. A son of Poseidon if his calculations were correct. He gave orders to Grover to protect the boy at all costs. When summer rolled around, he knew that Percy Jackson could no longer survive outside the borders of camp. He needed to be taken in and trained as soon as possible.

Before the boy could even enter camp, he had already managed to kill one fury and the Minotaur. The boy was lucky if not amazing. And not even a month after he'd arrived in camp, he had already received his first quest. Not only was Percy going on the quest, but so was Annabeth. The girl he'd practically raised as his own. He sighed and went to his room. He was going to pray to every deity he knew for the quest to go well.

The next day, he embraced Annabeth in a bear hug before letting her go and join her teammates. He watched in amusement as Percy and Annabeth got into an argument right before their quest. Ah, young love.

Just as the trio was about to leave for their quest, he gave Percy Anaklusmos. His eyes lit up as the pen grew longer and heavier in his hand.

"This sword has a long and tragic history that we need not go into. It's name is Anaklusmos."

"Riptide." he easily translated. Chiron had never known that one word could hold so much emotion.

Just as Percy reached the bottom of the hill, he looked back at him. Even with the distance Chiron could see the shine in the boy's eyes. He raised his bow high in salute for the boy and his teammates.

He waited with his bow raised until he could no longer see the white van and no grey or green eyes were peering back at him. He slowly lowered his arm and felt his heart break. He knew that there was a possibility that one or all of them would not return and those eyes, green and grey, knew it very well.

But underneath the fear, there was the unmistakeable shine of something stronger. He saw the love in those eyes and he knew that as they left, they would undoubtedly come back.

Besides, he was positive that this was not the only time this would happen. They would come back and receive other quests. But no matter how many quests they receive, that shine in their eyes will never fade away.

Love will always push them forward, but it can also bring them back to the place where they will be loved unconditionally. If not by everyone then by him.

He would love them unconditionally and he wouldn't change a thing.

Love is this, this is love

Love is why we do it love is worth the pain

Love is why we fall down, get back up again

Love is where the heart lies love is from above

Love is this, this is love

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**A/N: Yeah, I used the original conversation between Chiron and Percy. It's from the Lightning Thief. Anyways, read and review and all that stuff. Yeah. Okay.**

**JUNIOR YEAR SUBSCRIBERS**

**To those who subscribed to Junior Year: Please don't kill me. I've been super duper busy because I graduated from high school last march. And what comes after high school? That' right, college. And college means independence. Which meant I had to personally enroll myself after getting everything I needed from the government because I went to the state university. Then after that, I had to mentally prepare myself because I would obviously experience culture shock. Sure enough I did. We had this huge campus tour thingy then this convocation and all those stuff. It was exhausting. To top it all off, I was sick during these events. Yeah, my life sucks.**

**Anyway, I already have the next chapter, but I kind of read the previous chapters and it looked like some of the facts didn't exactly fit. Like Mr. Brunner said that he never actually met the kid but Percy goes and has a super important flashback about them working together to put Mr. K in a facility? So yeah. I am going to edit the chapters so these things fit and I just might shorten it because I think 9 chapters is too long for one day right? So yeah. Expect big changes for that.**


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